A cold foggy hike to the Broch of Birsay

It's quite cool and windy here, and our itinerary is getting smaller and smaller as a result. Not much sense in spending the day at the beach when it's freezing!

This morning, we took a drive across the northern part of the mainland towards Birsay. At the tip of the island, there's a wee dot of land that was inhabited by the Vikings, where there's the foundational remains of a small settlement. When the tide is low, you can access the island by walking across the rocks, but when the tide comes in, it's an island once more. We checked the tide times before the visit, so when we arrived we could walk right out. The island is very close to sea level on one side, but much higher on the other, so there are some seriously dramatic cliffs full of blooming flowers and nesting sea birds. It was lovely, but a bit too vertiginous for me to stand at the edge for too long!

On a related topic, I am starting to get a bit worried about our upcoming trip to Rome. We haven't experienced temperatures much above 60 degrees since we have been in Scotland, and it's going to be in the high 80s in Rome next week. I'm afraid a sudden 30 degree swing is going to make us wilt! So, prepare yourself for various sweaty photos of us panting and draped over Roman ruins!